At the present time, dashboards are generally composed of a panel formed by an insert of moulded plastic or metallic material, or even of dished plate, possibly covered by a skin. Their function is, in particular, to conceal numerous housings and/or conduits, and to bear fittings, accessories, air conditioning systems and/or electrical systems provided in this area.
In such devices, the method of fixing the said housings and/or conduits varies considerably from one type and/or version of a vehicle to another. Some, for instance, are secured to the rear face of the panel, others to the body of the vehicle, for example, to its front body panel.
Presently known dashboards thus necessitate the use of numerous intermediate pieces for support and/or fixing purposes, in particular to ensure transfer of the load in the case of the heaviest fittings and/or accessories, thus requiring a large number of assembly operations and of stock items to be handled.
As an indirect consequence, they make it necessary to restrict diversification of the external finishes to avoid yet further increasing the number of their component parts.
The assembly of presently known dashboards is also made particularly difficult by the fact that it often requires operations to be carried out &lt;&lt;blind&gt;&gt;, these operations further having to be conducted in a confined space such, for example, as that of a vehicle body in the process of being manufactured.
In this connection, it is to be noted that the production of these vehicles is, moreover, slowed down by the assembly of the dashboards and the production rate thus slackens, particularly when the vehicle to be assembled has numerous fitting options.
The object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks by permitting the use of parts that are common to different versions of a vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard making it possible to limit the number of parts that vary from one version of a vehicle to another.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that makes it possible to promote diversification of the trim without adverse effects on its cost and/or production deadlines.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that is easier to assemble owing to the elimination of &lt;&lt;blind&gt;&gt; operations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that can be pre-assembled with all of the accessories and/or fittings that have to be integrated therein, in such a way as to enable it to be installed in the vehicle in one piece.
One advantage of the present invention is that it makes for weight saving and/or a reduction in space taken up.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will emerge in the course of the description that follows, which is given only by way of illustration and is not intended to limit same.